First, let me say to those of you who have heard our episode about this film (#194), I owe Late Night with the Devil an apology. It’s fantastic. It’s a work of genius that I completely misunderstood the first time I saw it. There are layers upon layers of things going on in the film, and I have very quickly become obsessed with it. And there’s a whole level of story going on that I certainly can’t say nobody else noticed, but I haven’t seen or heard anyone talking about it, and I completely missed it the first time around. Maybe it’s just something everybody picked up on and nobody else thinks it’s important. It’s more of a plot thing than a character thing, so maybe that’s it. But I think it is equally crucial to understanding the film, and I want to talk about it.

BIG ASS SPOILER WARNING! IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE MOVIE AND STILL PLAN TO SEE IT, STOP READING NOW!

I’ve read several reviews and analysis writeups on Late Night with the Devil, and they all focus on a lot of the same stuff. What it all boils down to is that Jack made some kind of “deal with the devil” through his associations at The Grove (which is connected to the Abraxas Cult) to become the most watched host in late night television. The cost of that deal turned out to be Minnie getting cancer and dying, and the way he became the most watched host is that Abraxas (or one of its minions) caused demonic havoc on the Halloween 1977 episode of the show, climaxing with Jack murdering Lilly to stop said demonic havoc. Along the way, Jack experiences a dissociative break where we see him reckoning with the guilt of his choices and sacrifices. It’s unclear how much he really believed he was making an actual deal with a demon, or if he knew Minnie’s death would be the price he paid. Ultimately, it’s a movie about how far someone is willing to go to get to the top, what they are willing to sacrifice.

But that’s not all it is. Nobody is making much of the part about Abraxas and the cult’s intentions. What would be the point of all this for them? What is Abraxas getting out of all this other than pulling a fast one on a gullible talk show host? As it turns out, the entire broadcast itself, as well as the documentary about the broadcast we are watching, is an Abraxas ritual intended to enslave anyone who sees it. After all, as Carmichael told us:

And as we all know from the video about Lilly’s back story with the Abraxas Cult:

And where have we seen these same images before? At the start of the introductory video of the film:

This was the entire master plan of the Abraxas Cult, and the pieces were moving long before we ever enter the story. Jack’s folly and the chaos on the show were just the means to the true end. A ritual broadcast for Abraxas to enslave millions was the whole point.

Here’s a few assorted bits of stuff that point to this conclusion. First, this moment, also from the Abraxas Cult video played before we meet Lilly and June:

In short, yes. If she is possessed, she is a completely willing vessel; but I think that body is 100% demon operated, and every bit of what we see is performance. Consider this moment, a personal favorite:

Or this moment where Lilly speaks to Jack in Minnie’s voice:

Or this moment that hits the nail on the head:

Here’s Jack cutting Demon Lilly free from her restraints using the sacrificial dagger:

Right before this happened, Demon Lilly was crying about being hurt by the person trying to help her from the restraints. Demon Lilly wanted/needed Jack to realease her, and wanted/needed it to be done with the dagger. Shortly after this is when she does her head-splitting Palpatine routine.

And then, of course, there’s this tirade from Jack during his climactic delerium:

Here’s a fun minor detail that contributes. There is a part of Jack’s delerium in which he sees flashes from his time at The Grove, including this random theremin in the woods:

Which, of course, parallels the theremin in the studio during the live broadcast.

Speaking of that Grove portion of Jack’s delerium, this is where we also finally learn what’s up with the skeleton man, but also a lot more. As it turns out, every single person in the audience in a costume, as well as the three people in the front row (that Leo the producer had previously identified as Cavendish’s new vice president of marketing, his wife, and the head of airtime for UBC) are all in Jack’s Grove delerium:

Can you say ritual congregation?

Then there is the most straightforward bit of all, the last things we see before we disappear into Jack’s delusion. First, we warp shift into the lightning form of the demon, directly into the camera, a motif used throughout to imply that people are communicating directly to the viewer:

And then we plainly see the face of the demon itself in the static:

The demon is, very literally, inside the broadcast. But here’s a fun thing:

The demon’s face in the static is also the very first thing you see when the TV turns on at the very beginning of the film, before the introductory video begins. Everyone watching the broadcast is bearing witness to an Abraxas ritual.

And the lynchpin that tells us this entire thing has been engineered to get to this point is that this is the very last thing we see in the film:

And where have we seen/heard that before? In the Abraxas ritual from the very beginning of the film:

Not until the end of the broadcast, when the ritual is complete, is the ultimate purpose of Abraxas truly fulfilled. This also answers the question of why this supposed found footage mockumentary/master tape contains footage of Jack’s inner delerium: because it’s cursed by the ritual it contains. This was the end game all along. And even moreso: we, the audience of Late Night with the Devil, have also just witnessed the same Abraxas ritual.

The one thing I didn’t screengrab: in the intro video, there is a clip of a press conference with Jack signing his UBC contract where we hear a voice as, “what did you have to sacrifice to get here.” In Jack’s delerium, we get a longer version where the UBC guy says “Jack’s biggest sacrifice is yet to come”. I always assumed he meant Minnie. But early on in the broadcast, Jack refers to the viewers as the most important part of the show. And he has just participated in an attempted sacrifice of his entire audience to the power of Abraxas, including us.

Some other side points to discuss. What about Carmichael’s hypnosis sequence. How does that work into all of this? That’s simple – it was exactly what he said it was, group hypnosis. Like me, you probably completely missed or forgot this glossed over detail from Carmichael’s introduction on the show:

And of course Demon Lilly is unaffected by the hypnosis, as we see here:

We think she’s reacting to Gus ripping worms out of his guts and saying to ourselves, “oh, because the demon thinks Cannibal Corpse album cover death scenes are funny!” But I think she’s really reacting to him pretending to rip worms out of his guts because he’s hypnotized. That’s why it seems silly to her. She’s just, like, lolwtf? And ultimately, I think this is here just to reenforce the idea that controlling power, be it hypnotic suggestion or demonic presence, can be transmitted through the television screen.

So then what does Minnie’s ghost have to do with all this? First of all, she’s all over this film. I caught a few of her appearances, but I’m sure there are more I haven’t uncovered yet. Here she is appearing and vanishing from a mirror backstage:

And here she is in the scrying mirror from the tray of Abraxas cult ritual materials that June brought to the show:

Here’s another where she appears in a staticky monitor in the backstage footage:

This is one of my favorites, a shot from the introductory video that focuses on Jack to draw your attention away from Demon Lilly watching him from the left foreground of the frame:

Now open up the full resolution image and zoom in on that TV monitor. She is all over this film!

Here she is in the most important of her appearances to the story, a flash behind Demon Lilly’s head during the supposed summoning, in case you wondered if it was actually there the first time around: 

And then here that is again when they go back to watch the tape after Carmichael’s hypnosis routine:

Which leads to one of the greatest surprise moments in the film, when they use those two moments to rope-a-dope you before swinging with the big reveal:

Which is followed immediately by this shot of Jack watching that video;

Who the heck’s hand is on Jack’s shoulder, just like Minnie’s hand in the video he is watching? Because when we cut next to a wide shot of the stage, nobody is there:

And here’s where we start unraveling the presence of Minnie’s ghost. Notice how Demon Lilly is staring directly at the empty space where Ghost Minnie is, in theory, standing. And there’s a look of confusion, or surprise, and a little perturbation. Every other time Ghost Minnie and Demon Lilly have been on screen together, at least that I know of, the ghost is not in the demon’s line of sight. I think Ghost Minnie is there trying to protect Jack from Demon Lilly and the Abraxas Cult (great band name), or at least warn him. That’s why Christou’s connection to her was so violent. She was desperately trying to get Jack to listen to her with all the ghost possession power she could muster. But by the time he admitted the message was for him, it was too late. So what happened to Ghost Minnie? Well, I’m pretty sure she was the first victim of Demon Lilly when she turns into ball lightning. That happens pretty much immediately after this over the should ghost appearance. The entire studio goes dark, there are small electric crackles, and then just before the lights come on and the fireworks ensue, we get a flash of this in the dark:

Not sure about you, but that sure looks to me like Ghose Minnie is terrified, maybe in pain, and being fried by demon electricity to me. Maybe being extra second level ghost killed, maybe banished somewhere, but something clearly not good. After all, what hope could a ghost have against a demon? Even moreso, when we get into Jack’s delusion, there is a series of images in front of the hypnotic spinning wheel:

First, Minnie looking intensely distressed.

Next, Minnie now looking devious and sinister.

And finally, D’Abo’s bloody head screaming and laughing. This seems to maybe suggest the utter destruction/consumption of Minnie by the demon, who it seems might also have been D’Abo himself, in addition to being Lilly. This is probably a stretch resulting from spending too much time on this, but consider how D’Abo’s dentition seems to almost match the exaggerated dentition on this fully revealed Demon Lilly face:

Look at their left lateral incisors! They both have the same apparent slant upward and inward toward the central incisor! Yeah, maybe a stretch. For a while I even considered the possibility that Minnie was in on the whole thing from the get-go, part of the Abraxas cult and a willing sacrifice. She seems to know a lot about them in Jack’s delusion, but then again, that’s Jack’s delusion. Also, if that was the case, why would Demon Lilly seem surprised by her presence? Still working on that one. More layers to unpack.

Not quite done yet, though. I’ve got a few small appendix layers to finish off with for good measure. Remember this weird moment that is never followed up on?

When you go back and watch the movie again, you’ll notice that there are small glitches in the video just before wacky supernatural shit starts happening. Pretty sure that’s what they’re talking about. Why is it only in the broadcast feed but not the control monitors? Who knows. Demons gonna demon.

Here’s a couple of fun news clipping easter eggs from the introduction video:

And of course, some mysteries still remain, like what the heck is Salvador Dali doing at Jack and Minnie’s wedding?

And what the hell is up with this demon doctor about to inject Lilly with who knows what?

OK, that’s enough. I hope I’ve shed some light on some things for some people. But if your reaction to this was “yeah, goofy, we all saw the movie, too” maybe just keep that to yourself. I’m fragile.

I look forward to continuing to peel back the layers of this movie each time I watch it.

– JDP